A total of 43 schools in Singapore will have new principals in 2021.

This is part of an annual reshuffle of principals, but it is the first time so many new principals are being moved around or reappointed.

The new leaders will include nine from the Ministry of Education (MOE) headquarters.

These nine MOE officers returning to schools previously held school leadership appointments as principals or vice-principals, an MOE spokesperson said.

The Straits Times noted it is the highest number of officers to be moved from the headquarters to head schools in recent years.

The number of such transfers ranged from three to seven in the past five years, ST reported.

MOE statement

MOE said: "School leaders are typically rotated to MOE headquarters for exposure and to gain insights into macro-level education policies and strategic issues."

"These perspectives will be helpful in fostering a greater appreciation of headquarter policies, so that they are better equipped to translate policies to ground practices when they return to schools."

MOE said in a statement on Oct. 16 that the process of appointing and rotating principals allows schools to benefit from new perspectives and allows experienced principals to share best practices across schools.

Ceremony to formalise appointments

St Andrew's Secondary School and Guangyang Primary School will be among 23 schools to have first-time principals as part of the reshuffle.

The 43 new principals will receive their letters of appointment from MOE's director-general of education Wong Siew Hoong at a ceremony in December 2020.

It will be attended by Education Minister Lawrence Wong.

MOE will also acknowledge at the ceremony the contributions of retiring principals and senior education officers from its headquarters who have formerly served as principals.

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